Chichester A27 works cancelled

The following statement was released by Highways England on 1st March 2017:

HIGHWAYS ENGLAND UPDATESA27 Chichester Improvement

The A27 Chichester Bypass improvements scheme – 1 March 2017

On 28 February 2017, the Secretary of State wrote to Highways England instructing us to stop work on the A27 Chichester Bypass major improvement scheme.

*Message from Jim O’Sullivan, Highways England chief executive.
“We are grateful to everyone who took the time to engage with our consultation last summer on improving the A27 through Chichester. ”

“We are obviously disappointed at this decision as the improvement would have brought significant strategic benefits to the region. ”

“But any improvement had to be right for Chichester and there was no overall consensus. We will continue to work with partners to monitor the routes performance and to carry out any short term measures we can to help road users, the local community and the region.”

We will be publishing the consultation report and the executive summary of the scheme assessment reporton the website [ http://roads.highways.gov.uk/projects/a27-chichester/ ] in due course.

The implications for the Arundel road improvement plans are as yet unclear though Chris Grayling has stated that the work will proceed. Concerns have been raised though about the implications of faster through traffic on this part of the A27 from the west towards Chichester, with the possibility of even greater congestion at those pinch points in the future. We will publish further bulletins from Highways England as and when we receive them.

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Tortington Parish

The historic parish of Tortington, which in the 17th century included neighbouring Binsted, ceased to be an independent ecclesiastical parish in 1897 when it became a joint benefice with that of Arundel.

We use the term without a strict boundary in mind but locally Tortington is thought to be the triangular area bound on its northern side by the Arundel-Chichester road, on its western side by the paths and brooks that run south through Binsted Wood and across farmland to the railway line and on its eastern side by the River Arun.